Embsay Reservoir is located above the village of

Embsay Embsay is a village in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is paired with the neighbouring hamlet of Eastby to form the civil parish of Embsay with Eastby. The parish population as of the 2011 census was 1,871. Geography At th ...

, near

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Ai ...

in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills rising from the Vale of York w ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. It is owned by

Yorkshire Water Yorkshire Water is a water supply and treatment utility company servicing West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire, in England. The company has its ...

, and supplies water to the north and west of Skipton, feeding 25,000 homes. It has a dam height of .

History

The reservoir was built by Skipton

Urban District Council In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local gove ...

to service the needs of a rapidly rising population in the area. Sanctioned by the Skipton Water and Improvement Act of 1904, forty acres of Embsay Pasture were compulsorily purchased from the Duke of Devonshire in 1905, and work started almost immediately, with the engineering contract being awarded to the specialist company, Messrs G H Hill and Sons. The construction contract at the amount of £47,164 went to Messrs. Harold Arnold and Son, of

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

. During construction of the reservoir, engineers and 150 of the

navvy Navvy, a clipping of navigator ( UK) or navigational engineer ( US), is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects and occasionally (in North America) to refer to mechanical shovels and eart ...

workers employed were accommodated in the Whitfield Syke cotton-mill on the north side of the reservoir. In the mill's warehouse, the Navvy Mission Society, concerned about the welfare of the workers, was allowed to establish a chapel and a reading room. Construction of the embankment used locally excavated puddle clay, and stones were quarried from below the nearby

Embsay Crag Embsay is a village in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is paired with the neighbouring hamlet of Eastby to form the civil parish of Embsay with Eastby. The parish population as of the 2011 census was 1,871. Geography At th ...

, the quarry still visible as a scar in the landscape today. The reservoir was completed before the end of 1909, and the reservoir was full by 10 January the following year. It was officially opened on 21 June 1910. No houses were submerged as part of the project, but the old Whitfield Syke Mill was demolished. Today, the mill's warehouse, consecrated as a chapel, stands as England's last physical link to the Navvy Mission Society. The reservoir is used for leisure activities such as sailing,

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techni ...

, and walking, and is the home of the Craven Sailing Club. There are car parking facilities for visitors.

References

External links

Yorkshire Water
– Embsay Moor Reservoir {{authority control Reservoirs in North Yorkshire Craven District